Instagramming Canada - Prince Edward Island

Part 12 of my cross Canada series takes us to the smallest province in Canada, Prince Edward Island. However, don't let the name confuse you: PEI is actually 232 islands!

PEI also happens to have smallest population of any province in Canada, with only 146,300 people as of 2014. This means this province has less people than my hometown Regina!

Being so small, however, it was difficult to find images on Instagram. That isn't to say there's nothing there worth seeing! Quiet the quandary, actually. PEI has a few very unique locations that drive their tourism. One of them is the gorgeous themed village of Avonlea, named after the village in the hit novel "Anne of Green Gables" published in 1908. This story, and the subsequent stories, follows Anne, a red-haired "fiery" orphan who grows up on PEI. The story is an international bestseller, and is strangely very popular in Japan (or so I've been told)!

PEI also has the nickname of being the "Birthplace of Confederation" as it is where the seeds of what would become a unified Canada were first planted. The story goes that a day before the Founding Father's arrived in PEI, a circus had come to the island and the majority of the population went to see them. When the Founding Fathers arrived, they were stranded on their boat offshore until a fisherman noticed them and rowed them to the island. Nobody even bothered to greet them once they arrived in town!

Founder's Hall, a museum dedicated to the foundation of Canada, now sits in Charlottetown. It was one of the most interesting museums I have ever been in, and after learning more about my country since visiting it in 2010, I would love to go back and properly appreciate what the museum has to offer. One of the most interesting things I learned there was that Eastern Canada considers Louis Riel one of Canada's Founding Fathers! If you recall from my Heritage of the RCMP article Louis Riel was a Metis revolutionary that started two violent conflicts in Western Canada, until he was tried in a kangaroo court and executed in Regina. Many in Western Canada see him as a traitor, but to Eastern Canada he's a hero. This was the first time I realized history can be subjective and is never absolute.

With that thought-provoking statement, I would like introduce you to the Birthplace of Confederation, Canada's smallest but very beautiful province of PEI in "Instagramming Canada - Prince Edward Island"!

City Life

Island Life

Lighthouses

Anne of Green Gables

Mother Nature

Atlantic Waters

And, as always, a big thank you to my sweetheart Jessica Nuttall for proof reading a countless number of my articles. I couldn't do any of this without you. I love you.